The Flower and The Raven
by MeuMeuLeijon
Summary: While on a mission to retrieve info on Sasuke Uchiha, Ino Yamanaka is kidnapped. But, when she finds out who was sent to kidnap her, her priorities become totally mixed up. Will she stay with the raven haired mad man and create a new life, or will she escape back to her old one?


**A/N: **Hello, hello, helloooooo! ^-^ Welcome to my second story, which I'm very excited to be writing. :3 I mean, okay, I'm still writing my first story, but come on, I can do both at the same time. Hopefully... okay, so I'm not a good multi-tasker. :c Anyway, this one is going to be Ino-centric and the pairing is going to kind of sort of be a secret. Well, not really, it's probably going to be very obvious, but whatever. Okay, here goes. Enjoy! :3

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto. :c

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_Don't move, don't breathe, don't even blink. _

Hiding in the bushes, blonde hair matted with blood and her head throbbing in pain, Ino Yamanaka felt pitiful. She kept her eyes directly on the man on the other side of the bush that was searching for her, determined to finish her off.

"Come on, sweetheart," he called, "I promise I'll make it quick."

Ino wanted to roll her eyes and pounce on him, but she was in no position to do so. The large gashes on her forehead and stomach were still pouring blood, though the amount was significantly less than before. She slowly lifted her hand up to her forehead and attempted to heal herself again. Where the fuck were Shikamaru and Choji?

"There you are, love."

Ino pushed herself up and out of the way of a down pour of kunai. She grabbed one of her own from her pouch and faced her opponent. _Come on, Ino. You can do this. Even if you can't beat him, just stall until the boys get here._ She dodged another onslaught and threw her own weapon, just barely missing the 6 foot 5 inches tall beast of a man. Even though he was a huge man, he moved with speed that could _almost_ rival Rock Lee's. So, she was fucked. Her ninjutsu was too slow for him and her wounds made her taijutsu practically useless. As he ran at her, an idea made it's way into her mind and she pushed herself off the ground into a back flip, dodging a kick. She landed a few feet away and threw more kunai, missing again. This process of dodging, attacking and missing went on for a while, until finally the beast-man roared in frustration._  
_

"Stay still so I can crush you!"

His hands began moving, even faster than his feet and before Ino knew what he was doing the ground began to turn to mud and wrap itself around her body. The man grinned maniacally and approached the girl, who wasn't even attempting to escape.

"Aw, what's wrong? You finally give up? It's about damn-"

When he was right in front of her, Ino suddenly disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"Shintenshin no Jutsu!"

Before he had time to react, the man was paralyzed. He tried to raise an arm, but to no avail. Then, he saw something within his mind. Ino. There she stood confidently, _in his head_. He wanted her out, mentally screamed for her to get out and fight him like a real ninja. But the image of her in his mind just smirked.

"My teammates will be here any second. Since I'm inside your head already, I guess we won't need you to get the information we want. I can just find it myself."

The image of Ino closed her eyes and searched through his memories. _His name is Amon. 23 years old. He's a missing-nin from the village hidden in the mist, Kirigakure. He saw Sasuke five days ago in Amegakure, the village hidden in the rain. That's all we needed to know. _Ino's eyes snapped back open in the man's head and could sense Shikamaru and Choji approaching.

"Guys! I'm over here! I'm in his body!" She called through Amon's mouth. The man struggled to gain hold of his mind, and Ino was losing strength. _Come on, come on._ _Hurry up!_ As she fought to keep control of his mind, Shikamaru and Choji leapt from the trees, landing in front of her. Shika immediately began making hand seals._  
_

"Kagemane no Jutsu."

Ino felt Amon's body become caught by Shika's shadow and released her jutsu. As she approached the men from a clump of bushes, she giggled to herself a little.

"You couldn't even tell that was a clone? You sure are stupid," she said to Amon.

"Why, you! Come to say to my face, you coward!"

Ino narrowed her eyes and moved closer to him, leaving only an inch between their noses.

"You. Sure. Are. Stupid."

He roared with anger and tried to punch her, but Shikamaru wouldn't allow it. The lazy-nin looked at Ino cautiously, not sure of how he should feel about her appearance. The large gash on her forehead made him a bit worried and very angry, but his being too late to protect her made him disappointed in himself. He internally shook his head. _She's all grown up now. She can handle herself. _But as the blonde girl continued to taunt the giant man, Shikamaru sighed. _And she's more troublesome._

"Ino, cut it out. Did you get what we needed?" Shika asked lazily. She looked over at him, a dark sadness washing over her face.

"Five days ago. Amegakure."

"And where are we takin' him?" Choji stepped closer to the man. Amon didn't have a forehead protector or any other semblance of where he might belong on him.

"Kirigakure."

"Choji, tie him up and help me set up camp. Ino, try to heal yourself as best you can," Shika ordered. His teammates did as they were told. When Choji had tied Amon up securely, Shikamaru let his jutsu go. He looked over at Ino who sat against a tree using her chakra to heal herself.

"We were late," he murmured to himself. Choji placed his hand on his friend's shoulder.

"Ino's gonna be fine, she can take care of herself."

"Obviously, she can't," Shika said harshly, giving Choji a cold glare, "Do you see how banged up she is?"

"But, she's alive, right? And she got the information we needed. Shikamaru, this is Ino we're talking about. She's strong and stubborn. You should have more faith in her."

The Nara looked down at his feet and sighed.

"She's just so damn troublesome."

~o~

Staring up at the stars, Ino felt an unusual sense of peacefulness pass over her. She hated camping with a passion, but something about tonight just felt... right. The fire crackling off to her left and Choji snoring on the other side of the flames were just calming noises for her. She let her eyes shut slowly and she began to drift to sleep. Right before she fell into the ocean of slumber, she saw Sasuke's face. Her eyes snapped open and she sat up hastily. She tried to stay calm, but her heart was aching for the raven haired boy. After what felt like an eternity, she was able to breathe regularly and went to take Shikamaru's place as look out.

"Shika," Ino whispered, coming up behind her teammate. He looked back at her and nodded. "Everything's been quiet?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

He lazily walked past her toward the camp and she attempted to find a place that would be comfortable to watch from. After about ten minutes of trying to get situated, she found a spot on a branch that would hide her and give a better view of her surroundings. She began playing with her hair, braiding it and picking at the split ends. She didn't notice the snap of a twig until it was too late. A figure stood on a branch across from hers, shrouded in shadows. She jumped up from her spot and drew a kunai from her pouch.

"Who are you?" She forced herself to sound more confident than she was. Honestly, she was afraid that someone had sneaked up on her like this. The figure said nothing, choosing to lunge toward her instead. She aimed at him with her kunai, but he grabbed her hand firmly. She winced at the strength he had and tried to make out his face.

"Yamanaka, it's been so long and this is how you say hello?"

Ino cringed at the voice and felt her knees go weak.

"S-Sasuke?"

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**A/N**: Lalalala, hiiiii. :3 Hope you enjoyed that because there will be more to come!


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